Vibrio algicola sp. nov., isolated from the surface of coralline algae.

A Gram-stain-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, facultative anaerobic and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain SM1977T, was isolated from the surface of coralline algae collected from the intertidal zone at Qingdao, PR China. The strain grew at 10–35 °C, pH 4.5–8.5 and with 1–8.5% (w/v) NaCl. It reduced nitrate to nitrite and hydrolysed Tween 20 and DNA. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain SM1977T was affiliated with the genus Vibrio , having the highest sequence similarity (97.6 %) to the type strain of Vibrio casei , followed by those of another five species (95.6–97.6 %) in the Rumoiensis clade of the genus Vibrio . However, the in silico DNA–DNA hybridization (75.3–75.9 %) and average nucleotide identity (21.6–22.8 %) values of SM1977T against these close relatives were all below the corresponding thresholds to discriminate bacterial species. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c and/or C16:1 ω6c), C16:0 and summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω6c and /or C18:1 ω7c). The predominant polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. The sole respiratory quinone was Q-8. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SM1977T, determined from the obtained whole genomic sequence, was 42.3 mol%. On the basis of the polyphasic results obtained in this study, strain SM1977T is considered to represent a novel species within the genus Vibrio , for which the name Vibrio algicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SM1977T (=MCCC 1K04351T=KCTC 72847T).